Bush Plan Calls for More Rigor In Vocational Education

As Congress prepares to revamp the federal law on vocational
education, the Bush administration has unveiled a proposal that would
require career-oriented high school programs to increase their academic
rigor and form stronger partnerships with colleges and employers.

The plan has drawn a mixed response from career and technical
educators since its release last month. They say it improves upon
earlier ideas floated by the administration, but they still worry about
its impact on high schools.

The administration’s plan would retool the Carl D. Perkins
Secondary and Technical Education Act, which Congress is scheduled to
reauthorize this year. The proposal would replace two existing streams
of federal vocational funding with a single program for distributing
that money, to be known as the Secondary and Technical Education
Excellence Program.

Under the plan, states would be required to ensure that school
districts receiving federal vocational education money formed
partnerships with at least one postsecondary institution, such as a
trade or technical college, a university, or an apprenticeship
program.

It also would require districts receiving federal money to report
several new measures of academic performance—an oft-stated goal
of the administration. The reporting requirements would include the
academic assessments of students given at some point between 10th and
12th grades required under the No Child Left Behind Act; the percentage
of vocational education students taking certain mathematics and science
courses; and the percentage of students earning high school
diplomas.

"Everyone has to be a thinker—not just a pair of strong hands
with a willingness to work," said Susan K. Sclafani, the Department of
Education’s assistant secretary for vocational and adult
education. "We’re looking at this as a different entity. …
All kids need a solid core in academics."

Late last week, Rep. Michael N. Castle, a Delaware Republican,
introduced a Perkins proposal of his own, which would require states to
develop academically rigorous sequences of coursework for vocational
students. His bill, the Vocational and Technical Education for the
Future Act, emphasizes local control of course content and curriculum,
and would require links between K-12 and college career-oriented
programs.

Bits and pieces of the Bush administration’s plan have floated
throughout the vocational education community in recent months. One
particularly controversial idea, included in President Bush’s
fiscal 2004 budget proposal, would have allowed states to redirect
vocational funding toward their Title I programs. That plan was
ultimately rejected by Congress, and it did not re-emerge in the
administration’s new vocational education proposal, which was
released on May 17.

Partners and Standards

Kimberly A. Green, the executive director of the National
Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education
Consortium, in Washington, credited the administration with working to
address objections to its earlier ideas.

"It appears this proposal has a bit more balance," Ms. Green
said.

But Ms. Green said several pieces of the proposal concern her
organization, such as the academic-proficiency requirements for
vocational students, which she called overly prescriptive.

"Let’s set the bar high, but let’s allow states to
figure out how to get there," she said.

On the other hand, Ms. Green was disappointed to see the
administration propose dropping a requirement in current law for
vocational programs to report on the technical-skill proficiency of
their students.

Assistant Secretary Sclafani said that there was too much variation
among states and schools in using those standards, and that the
administration did not want to keep that measurement until there was
more uniformity to it.

The administration’s proposal would also change the law to
allow states to award grants to districts on a competitive basis or
through a formula-driven system. Currently, states make those
distributions solely through a formula. To receive federal funding
under the Bush plan, states would be required to develop their own
criteria evaluating applicants for the money.

Christin M. Driscoll, the senior director of public policy at the
Association of Career and Technical Education, in Alexandria, Va.,
wondered whether the emphasis on partnerships between schools and
colleges would hurt vocational programs that succeeded in sending
students straight from high school into the job market.

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